Other than John Grisham, no one in the recent times has been able to produce more than 1 bestseller within a short span of time. Dan Brown has captured the hysterical interest in his work just like JK Rowling, Lemony Snicket and a resurrected Tolkein.
Although his work is very interesting and keeps the readers engrossed in the novel, I have to admit for me, he is still not up there. He has however made a great start and we will hopefully see a lot more and a lot different of him.
The Plot
Robert Langdon a Harvard professor of religious symbology is asked to assist in solving the murder of a renowned scientist, who has been apparently killed by an anti-church rebel group. Along with the victim’s daughter, Langdon sets out to find not just the killer but a missing cannister containing highly destructive matter created by the victim....to make matters worse, they have just 24 hrs.
The story critique
Having read all of Dan Brown’s books, one can see a very obvious pattern of the story-
A man/woman of high knowledge in a said field is asked to help with an impeding dangerous situation
The story spans a max of 48 hrs.
The perp is usually a known person, who is anonymous at first but revealed at the end as one of the main people in the story
There is always a situation that has to do with the time-frame...national security, destruction, timed bomb kind of situation and at the last minute or second, the situation is controlled.
Author background
Dan Brown has had an early exposure to both science and religion, thanks to his parents. His line of work also made him intrigued about codes and cryptology which was what inspired him to write.
An amazing trait in his books is the amount of research invested on finishing the story...the research need not necessarily be answered questions and conclusive statements, but more so on the architecture, life and history behind famous monuments, cities etc.
This amount of information is a tricky thing. If you do not web this information into the story well, then it would turn out to be like a thesis dissertation. But Dan Brown has been able to successfully put forth all of his research as conversations and discussions between main characters, which is what makes the story more juicy!!
Another interesting thing about his books is each book concentrates on a particular city and its surroundings for the most part and this literally takes us on a virtual tour of the city-serving as an informative guide. If you have been to any of these cities, you may fondly reminisce about the places mentioned or curse yourself for not having been so attentive. My experience was with Paris...I was so blinded by its recent architecture and buildings that I didnt pay too much attention to the Louvre other than a look at Mona Lisa.
Overall I would say he is a highly recommended author who will keep us wanting more with every book. But I really hope he doesn’t make the chain of events so predictive.